Sep 5, 2011

(from a neighbor on 22nd, near Madison)For the second time this year, my ancient station wagon has been broken into and things stolen. More times than not, I street park the car on 22nd. As with the first time, either I had left windows down to allow for easy access, or simply not locked it, for even easier access. This is in good part my own damn fault. There is definitely the "Big City Car Prowl" argument for leaving ones cars unlocked to avoid malicious persons breaking windows, which can come with a big repair cost, but regardless, leaving things of "Value" in the car is never a good idea. First time the car was gone through it was mostly just rifled through, not much taken. This time, however, they cleaned me out. Including the car's owners manual, an emergency kit, and the very odd theft of a bag of my dogs' toys we keep in the car to keep them entertained on longer trips. And a pair of "Crocs", shoes so unpleasant I don't like them in my house, relinquishing them to reside in the car in case of emergency. Also taken, a set of inclement weather gear, gloves/hats/sweatshirts, that sort of thing - including a nice hooded rain jacket. Doh! One assumes the theft of a crate of engine oil, transmission fluid, and assorted car tools put the neerdowell's off stealing the actual car, which is clearly on it's last legs. Upshot of which is - although the neighborhood is so very much improved since the bad ol' days of drugs & guns in the street - it's still urban living and one should still lock one's doors and not leave anything of any even visual interest in one's car, even in the event one owns a very old and rustic car full of dirty gloves, oil, ugly rubber "shoes", and dog toys.